Lauren Friesen is the David M. French Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for excellence in university theater. He has published essays on Tennessee Williams, Friedrich Duerrenmatt, Eugene O’Neill, Joost van den Vondel and Hermann Sudermann. His poetry has appeared in Poetry Nippon, Dark Waters, Mississippi Valley Review, and The Mennonite. Friesen and his wife, Janet, live in North Newton, Kansas.